1997 Cadillac Seville SLS Northstar 4.6L

Summary:

A great USED bargain

Faults:

I find that it uses 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles.

The driver side power window switch quit working in the up direction and I replaced it for $70 parts.

The case half seal leaks oil. This would cost approximately $1800 to replace. I am debating fixing it or just adding the oil when necessary. The rack & pinion leaks fluid. This is a $1000 repair. Until I can afford it I put some rack & pinion stop leak in the power steering system.

The rear air levelers leak. The cost to have these replaced is $1200. I could probably do it myself, but I can't seem to find the parts anywhere, but the dealership.

The brake rotors warped. I replaced them for $120.

General Comments:

Even though I have had a lot of issues with this car, I love it. I have wanted one for a long time and finally bought one. Its comfortable, quick, sporty and just very nice to look at. I love all of the extra gadgets. I have owned 5 Cadillacs and have only regretted buying one of them, a 1989 Coupe De Ville.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd August, 2003

18th Sep 2003, 20:48

This was a good and accurate review of the STS. I recently purchased one and also ran into rear shock issues. I was able to search the Internet (try AC Delco part #'s 580-130 and 580-131. The dealer list was 650 each. I found them for 429 each.

3rd Mar 2004, 23:11

Tip: If you get your upper to lower crankcase resealed, the way I do it is to leave the engine in the car and take the frame out with the rack. The labor to then switch over to the new rack should be 1 hour or less.

1997 Cadillac Seville STS NorthStar V8

Summary:

Smooth..

Faults:

I have had our 1997 Seville STS for approximately 3 years. We purchased it used at about 51,000 miles and now have about 81 K at the time of this review. I will agreed with all the other readers that there does seem to be a “higher than normal” oil consumption rate, however, it has not changed for us in the three years we had the car. We use about 1 quart between oil changes which is about 3500 – 5000 miles. For the most part, this car has been dependable for us and a dream to drive on highway trips. The power is awesome.

What I have found disturbing is the service from the dealers. We have had our problems in getting items repaired when they are needed. However, our newest Cadillac dealership experience is a real gem!. For an example, we recently had to get our car a state inspection that now uses the OBD-II computer for emissions. I will only focus on the service and not on the other issues that evolved out of this most recent Dealership experience.

Having gone to franchised oil change place to have our oil change, we were not able to get a state inspection because of “Not Ready” codes from the OBD-II. At this time we found out that if any previous work had been performed on a vehicle many of the OBD-II codes may need to be cleared again. A Cadillac Dealer was our recommendation to fix our problem; a minor one we were told.

For a charge or approximately $50 all our OBD-II emission codes were cleared by the Cadillac dealer and we were told to drive our car for approximately 150 miles. This, we were assured, would correct the OBD-II problem. When we reached the target mileage, we brought the car back. After 2 and ½ days of our constant inquiring, we finally picked up the car and we were told the car’s OBD-II was still producing “Not Ready” codes and we needed to continue to drive the car.

After a few heated exchanges about the service department taking 2 ½ days to tell me the exact thing a franchise oil change place told me in 20 minutes, I started getting all kinds of suggestions to correct my problem. They ranged from replacing all my oxygen sensors, which had a “not ready” code, to whole sale part replacements. All of their recommendations would not guarantee a fix, yet we would be charge for this “exploratory” fix!.

Finally, after contacting the Cadillac Consumer Hotline, the Dealership decided to look at the car again, and eventually we were told that they had found a sensor causing all our problems. The bad news was that the car needed to be driven more. Since there is a $250 fine in my state for an expired inspection sticker, the dealership “volunteered” to drive our car the required mileage and then inspect it.

After more than one week of having our car, the Dealership called to tell us there were still problems and it would probably be the next day before we could get our car. This is where I am at as I write this article.

All total, the Cadillac dealership has had our car for 10 ½ days for an inspection problem and not a real end is in sight. I am not sure if this is a particular car problem for the Cadillac, but I do know Cadillac needs to improve and provide a little more “customer relationship” when dealing cars they cannot seem to correct over such a long period of time. After all, my understanding is that a Cadillac’s engine is suppose to be sophisticated enough to provide dealership mechanics with answers to the problems. My question to this dealership was “If a Cadillac Dealer cannot find the solution for their own product after more than a week, who can?”

Anyone else have OBD-II problems?

General Comments:

Very comfortable car. Lots of power. Head turner. Bad Dealership customer service.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 8th July, 2003